Crucial game for the Wings Tonight

Submitted by the_big_house 500th on
On Saturday night the Wings took a hard loss at home to the visiting Los Angeles Kings by a score of 3-2. Needless to say that Detroit's current losses have only been by a goal they are still losses and 2 points not achieved. Tonight Detroit plays Phoenix in an important home game at the Joe. The Coyotes seem to have things clicking as they now have 63 points and currently are 2nd in the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Detroit still is stuck in 3rd in the Central with 58. Why is this win so important? Detroit's home record this year has dropped gradually from that of last season. The Wings have also had injury problems but it looks like those wounds are starting to heal as players like Jason Williams, Tomas Holmstrom, Andreas Lilja Johan Franzen are well on their way to returning to the ice before the Olympic break. A win tonight against the Coyotes and a loss from Nashville to the CBJ would give Detroit 60 pts and be one point behind the Predators in a race for 2nd place in the Central Division. Jimmy Howard will start tonight in goal for Detroit.
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Red_Lee

January 26th, 2010 at 2:59 PM ^

Kronwall is back! I can feel the open ice hits sending chills though my body already. And yes, they must win tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday against Pitt (as a statement game). Good to hear Lilja took some contact in practice today and that we might be back to 100% before the Olympics.

Joined: 01/24/2010

MGoPoints: 7106

Hannibal.

January 26th, 2010 at 3:02 PM ^

They are all big from here on out. Especially against the five or six teams that are around them in the standings. The loss to LA really hurt. They needed that one. Kronwall is back tonight and Williams will be back this weekend. They'll finally have a second power play unit after essentially being without one for two months. When Franzen and Holmstrom get back, the old Red Wings will finally be back. Just hang in there in 8th place or better until the Olympic break and they should be fine. I am hoping for a 5th or 6th place finish. I'd like to see them not face Chicago or San Jose in the first round.

Joined: 09/09/2008

MGoPoints: 9051

Wahlberg

January 26th, 2010 at 3:12 PM ^

I'm really curious to see how they're going to make room for everyone coming back from injuries. With Franzen, Lilja, Kronwall, etc all back, they'll be over the cap. 2-3 players are going to have to be released/traded. Should be interesting to see how Holland makes it all work.

Joined: 08/08/2009

MGoPoints: 216

Hannibal.

January 26th, 2010 at 3:41 PM ^

With everyone healthy, I think that the forward lines will look something like this... Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi Franzen-Zetterberg-Cleary Williams-Filppula-Eaves Helm-Draper-Miller Maltby is a healthy scratch and Abdelkader and Leino take a trip to Grand Rapids.

Joined: 09/09/2008

MGoPoints: 9051